Thursday, 17 July 2008

According to a recent survey, around 75,000 children have been identified as missing across India in the last one year. Alas, you never get data about cricketers who take the obscurity-prominence-oblivion route.

Let’s admit, Irfan Pathan has become an anachronism, though that was not supposed to be the case with an otherwise immensely likeable chap with a disarming smile. An obituary to his career seems premature but I’m afraid he would go down in cricket history as a mere case study -- how not to tamper with a talent.

Indeed, Irfan can’t be faulted if he looks back and feels he got stuck somewhere between his own potentials and Greg Chappell’s aspirations. In his weaker moments he would probably admit that the aspiring all-rounder in him subdued the bowler within. Suddenly, belting looked so glamorous and bowling such a chore. No wonder, pace dipped and swing deserted, rendering him lesser a bowler.

To make it worse, too many mentors compounded the crisis. Irfan simply lost his way in the haze of advices that came from left, right and centre. Suddenly, everyone had something or the other to offer to him. No wonder, Irfan’s slower became a tautology and at some point of time, Jhulan Goswami was bowling faster than him. The same bowler who could make the ball talk, now only releases it and implores the almighty for the rest.

He probably got up one morning to discover in his horror that he has been robbed of his endowment.

My sneaking suspicion is Irfan had an identity crisis all along. He began as Zaheer protégé, was the next Wasim Akram at his zenith and then rumormongers exclaimed India has just got the new Kapil Dev. The truth is, he probably never had an identity of his own and that made him easy prey to failure.

Again, this was not to be the case.

The other day, Rafael Nadal had an asteroid named after him. I won’t be surprised if someone proposes to name a meteor after Irfan.

34 comments:

Wasim
said...

He has lost his pace by a yard or two since he started his career,he still swings the ball but is too slow, the flat wickets being prepared all over the world are also not helping him, he will fade away from the scene if he doesn't increase his speed.

Wasim, unless he swings it enough and at a decent pace, of not rocket pace, he would be as good as Boycott's mom. And it's quite difficult to see him increasing pace. You made a valid point about dead track which neither offer the kick or the lateral movement.

Neno, in cases of Balaji, Nehra and Agarkar, I think they are just too injury-prone to have a long career. Bangar, on his part, is a bits and pieces player who could come and send down a couple of overs to allow your frontline pacers catch their breath. Beyond that, he never was a threat as such with the ball.

Wasim, Nehra is perennially injured and sulking. He does not find a place in the Delhi Ranji trophy team. God knows why Mumbai Indians roped him in and Nehra looked altogether a different bowler! Even his teammates like Sehwag-Gambhir had no clue batting against him.

And I agree. You know, discussing the future of Indian cricket, one cannot but ignore the what-if of Irfan becoming at least 80% of what he had promised to be... Which will still make his an all-time great, mind you.

Look, none of the other talents mentioned here among the comments are/were really the one-for-the-ages kind of players... and Irfan really is.

Unfortunately, poor Mohammed Asif, of similar class and ilk, is heading the same way, albeit for altogether different reasons.

But now when he was fit and the selectors saw him bowling like Wasim Akram in IPL why they didn' selected him for Asia cup or Kitply.He was the most impressive Indian bowler in IPL.I don't know if he is going to Sri lanka or not.

india's first choice t20 bowler is a non-starter in tests, that's the game divide. also, not too long ago, the phlegmatic pathan, lost his shirt, bat and cool. Did he get run out that day? Sure run outta steam.

Sad for now, but he'll be back. Poster boys, as Yuvraj has demonstrated, make excellent 12th men, and ideal company in the 14! Must be the companies that back em. Anyway, who plays tests nowadays. Pathan, Yuvraj can have all the nite outs, and Raina will be there too. Too bad, Rohit Sharma.

SP, I too believe you probably can't fault him. It was all circumstances. But I agree with Cricketgod, he completely has lost his aggression. He's content chipping in with a wicket or two and is no more the spearhead.

Wasim, Nehra is not going anyehere, let alone Sri Lanka. He's too fragile and you always know he won't last an entire tournament. Of course he bowled so well in IPL but the selectors were not ready to look back and they probably wanted to invest in future. Hence you saw MS Gony getting a chance.

UTP, welcome. I'm not a great believer in fate but I do believe that it takes more than just effort to succeed. At times, you may still finish short of what you should have attained, At times, you are victims of the circumstances. Fate or circumstances, Irfan's is a sad story indeed.

Too bad because a lot of lefties aspire to become Wasim Akram but not many succeed.There were a few matches in IPL he was just bowling like Akram.To me he looked a much better bowler than RP and Pathan.

Good one som and your observation on him seeking advice from too many mentors is the single biggest reason for him to loose it. Maybe he should be sent out to the wild and made to eat raw meat to regain his touch. He is right now a confused bowler...now watch ishanth sharma go that way.

Wasim, to be honest, you can't really bank on Nehra. Few could swing it like him at his pomp and he looked at his best in IPL. That was partly because snubbed by even his Ranji team, he had a point to prove.

Scorpicty, I share your fear about Ishant. He has not changed his length a bit since returning from Australia. I tend to feel that our bowlers are a bigger force on Austrailan tracks but they simply lack the variation and intelligence to survivce in the sub-continent.

Not all of the Chappell era are lost! Raina has come back impressively this year! I for one have been extremely pleased to see his strong perfomances first in the CB series in Australia then against Pakistan in the kitply cup, Asia cup and now he's started off pretty solidly vs england. Irfan yes, seems lost. He needs to focus on his bowling, his batting seems something that pretty much takes care of itself, similar to someone like stuart broad. He needs to get his pace upto the 130s and rediscover his zip, swing and most importantly confidence and sense of identity- in the sense that he is a bowler who can contribute well with the bat. not anything less and not anything more, for now at least.

and naked cricket - guys like Raina, Yuvraj and after some more grooming Sharma are probably going to become the backbone of the Indian ODI and test teams in the future. Yuvraj and Raina particularly are rare talents. Raina seems to have discovered what he needs to be a success at international cricket and Yuvraj- lets face it; has never been given a decent run in tests. Yes he could have done more in the limited opportunities he got but he has never played more than 4 tests in a row which is also due to the unbelievably strong middle order we have seen every since his debut in 2000. I firmly believe that with someone of his talent, we have just got to be patient in the longer format and give him time to find his feat. A run of atleast 10 tests would be ideal. Take the example of someone like Symmo- for so long he was restricted only to ODIs and he too was not able to establish a spot in tests due to similar reasons as Yuvraj - limited opportunities and a couple of low scores. However, after becoming a regular since the Ashes of 2006-7, he has adapted remarkably. Lets hope Yuvi is able to cement Ganguly's spot as his own- hopefully his mindset will be stronger as he knows now he isn't just a temporary replacement and has a chance to really make his own spot in the Indian test team. Guys like Yuvraj are match-winners. India should nurture him, encourage him, support him and back him all the way and I'm hoping Dhoni will me smart enough to do this. Players like him are always important to have in a side.